Minister Binali Yildirim said Saturday 161 people were killed in the coup attempt against the government, with 2,839 soldiers now detained on suspicion of involvement.
Yildirim, speaking outside his Cankaya palace in Ankara and flanked by top general Hulusi Akar who was held during the coup attempt, also described the putsch bid as a “black stain” on Turkish democracy. He added that 1,440 people had been wounded.
Forty-two people, 17 of them police and others civilians, were killed in Ankara, NTV reported, citing the chief prosecutor’s office in the capital’s Golbasi district.
